Qt SDK 1.2 Released

We are happy to announce that a new important update for Qt SDK is published.
This Qt SDK 1.2 update sets a new baseline for the developers for a longer perspective. Some of the features have already been available as online updates, but Qt SDK 1.2 now integrates the very latest tools, most recent mobile build targets for Symbian and Nokia N9, and the still fresh Qt 4.8 for desktops. We have also introduced some improvements to the SDK and its maintenance tool.

An update to Notifications API improving the end user experience and fixing issues in the Nokia N9 implementation of the API.

If you already have Qt SDK installed, you can update to the latest version by running Update Qt SDK from the Qt SDK application folder on your computer. If you first time are getting started with Qt SDK, you can download 1.2 from our download page.

The http://qt.nokia.com/downloads page indeed is still a bit out of sync regarding those details.
For mobile targets for N9 we have 4.7.3 and for Symbian we have Qt 4.7.4. Qt 4.8 is now included as well, but only for desktops.

But is it only the page that is out of sync or the SDK package itself? It is a little confusing, the download link for SDK 1.2 clearly states Qt 4.7.4, whereas this entry says Qt 4.8. Did anyone download the SDK already to confirm the library version?

Great to see progress – but I think it’s a shame that it’s no longer possible to use 4.6.3 that’s needed for Symbian ^1, since 4.7 isn’t supported there (with older versions of the SDK, you could install and compile for both 4.6 and 4.7). Worse, I see that I can’t even install this new SDK and the older versions on the same machine/user account?

So the upshot is, I can’t use new SDKs at all now (even for separate non-phone apps I want to write for Windows/Linux), without losing over 50% of my downloads (which are coming from Symbian ^1 devices) 🙁

There’s also the potential gotcha I believe of people upgrading through SDK Updater, which the Nokia page says will remove 4.6?

The SDKs groups together a lot of tool chains, with a lot of duplicate files (or rather multiple versions of the same file) in the various Qt tool chains. We could add all the possible version in one offline SDK installer but the already large package would become HUGE.

This is why some of the targets you may want are only available online, i.e. can be fetched into the SDK via the SDKMaintenance tool. Some are superseded and therefore removed. Others we had to drop for technical reasons.

With the Qt SDK 1.2 you get by default Qt 4.7.4 for Symbian Anna, which is a target that can be used for all Symbian^3 and later devices. From the Maintenance tool you can also fetch Qt 4.7.3 with Symbian^1 based target and a Symbian Belle target with Qt 4.7.4 (useful if you plan to use target’s Symbian API, but not a common need).

So what you can get is Qt 4.7.3 for Symbian^1 (with Qt Quick 1.0 but without Qt Quick Components 1.0) and that supersedes the Qt 4.6.3 you are asking for.

The only reason you would need Qt 4.6.x would be for the non-touch devices (S60 3.1 and S60 3.2), and in that case you are right, the Qt SDK 1.2 no longer supports such target. That is because Qt Creator’s On Device Debugging engine is now using CODA and no longer supports TRK. So it is more than a target you need for those old devices, is an old version of the IDE as well.

This is why you need the old version of the SDK, which provides the old tools and targets. Installing it on the same PC works, but Qt Creator has user level shared settings which in this case will be a mix of two SDKs and their targets. Installing under two different user accounts should solve that problem, with the inconvenience it will bring.

I had been waiting for Qt 4.8 for some time, so nice to see that the SDK now has it. A couple of things:
– I was able to upgrade without any problem on both Windows 7 and Mac OS X Lion, but on Ubuntu 11.04 the updater didn’t work. It started updating, then something went wrong, and I had no choice but to remove everything, download the SDK and reinstall from scratch. This is not the first time that the SDK does this to me on Linux (while it’s always fine on Windows and Mac OS X).
– My application displays some documentation using QtHelp and sqlite. Well, it used to work fine with Qt 4.7.4, but not with Qt 4.8.0. On Linux and Mac OS X, I just don’t see anything while on Window it ‘works’ but with the wrong font…?!

Just to let you know that in Qt5 there is no qtmobility but qtmultimedia is a separate module which works great! I have all the examples working for playing videos etc.. (look for the qmlvideofx qtquick2.0 example as a cool demo), you may need to check it picks up your gstreamer headers correctly though (it looks in the wrong place for Fedora). This was all built from git earlier this week. Qt5 is shaping up great and can easily and quickly be built to try it out – if you set the option not to build webkit.

I know this is of no use to you as a phone developer as it seems no Nokia device will ever get Qt5, but for Desktop devs it is looking like a good future.

If I have understood this right Qt5 itself will include location API and other APIs which are currently in QtMobility. And couple of days ago I saw some QML 2.0 example which had eg. import line like this: “import Qt.location” or something like that- That seems to suggest location API really is part of Qt itself.

> I know this is of no use to you as a phone developer as it seems no Nokia device > will ever get Qt5

Really? From where did you get that idea? Could you please give some link where that is said. I have not seen any info like that, so I really don’t think you are right. What you say does not even make any sense at all.

If I have understood this right Qt5 itself will include location API and other APIs which are currently in QtMobility. And couple of days ago I saw some QML 2.0 example which had eg. import line like this: “import Qt.location” or something like that- That seems to suggest location API really is part of Qt itself.

> I know this is of no use to you as a phone developer as it seems no Nokia device
> will ever get Qt5

Really? From where did you get that idea? Could you please give some link where that is said. I have not seen any info like that, so I really don’t think you are right. What you say does not even make any sense at all.

Re QtLocation, yep in fact you “import QtLocation 5.0” in qt5. You can see how it’s used in the ‘mapviewer’ qml example in the qt5 sources. I think it must be made by the antipodean trolls in Brisbane as the map is set up to open there. It’s very slick (you can switch between 3+ maptypes) and very quick to zoom and pan.

Re no Qt5 for nokia phones. OK so you may be right I may be talking out of my backside but since Symbian we know is not being developed anymore and may get qt4.8 as a maximum, Meego is not being developed (not by Nokia anyway) and may also get 4..8 in a PR1.3 (also I have no source but wishful thinking for that one). Neither of those is a supported platform for Qt5 (this was also discussed on the devel list on qt-project.org) so that is why no-one can point to a phone that Nokia has announced which will get Qt5, they are going big on Windows Phone – which does not allow c++ at present. There is a rumour that a basic linux phone may be in the works (which would therefore run qt5) but this is the so far fact-free ‘meltemi’ project that you’ll find discussed in dark corners of the internet (+mynokiablog.com).

Is it really true that Qt5 will not support Symbian?? I saw some talk about that elsewhere too today. If this is true then this is really too much. my . This makes me REALLY ANGRY!! This is yet another blow at Symbian Qt developers. People have just learned QML and ported QWidget apps to QML. More and more QML apps for Symbian are made. And now it’s said that Qt5 and Qt Quick 2.0 wont support Symbian???

iI git the Luiia 800 two weeks ago. Nokia did send it to me as a developer gift. If this talk about Qt5 not supporting Symbian is true then I will sell that Lumia immediately. I’m not going to help Elop to kill Symbian Qt development.

I live in Espoo, Finland, and Nokia House is not far from my home. I’m so angry rifgt now that if it would not be over 22:00 here in Finland I would go to Nokia House and return the Lumia to Elop, I might smash it at floor first 😛

@Mika
I would wait at least till the MWC (Mobile World Congress) at the end of this month. That is when we’ll see the big announcements from Nokia about phone Qt future. Seriously, don’t smash your Lumia!

Lucian: Ah sorry, I’m getting confused with my Qt version numbers – yes Qt 4.7.3 is what I mean, this is what I use to target Symbian ^1.

I’m fine with 4.7.3 being an optional download as part of the online installer or Maintenance tool (this is how it was done in the SDK I’m currently using). I was confused as the download page says:

“The targets for Qt 4.6.3 for Symbian and Qt 4.7.3 for Symbian^3 and Symbian Anna have been removed from Qt SDK 1.1.4. To develop for these targets, use Qt SDK 1.1.2. Once you have installed Qt SDK 1.1.2, to enable use of the earlier targets and App TRK, don’t run the SDK update as this will remove the features you need.”

So I read this as 4.7.3 being removed too… or does it mean that 4.7.3 is still available for Symbian ^1, and is only unavailable for Symbian^3 (which can use 4.7.4 anyway)? Thanks.

Mika, I am so with you, I wish Finland was not that far and I would certainly NEVER get a single Nokia product EVER.

With each and every new blog post I am MORE AND MORE convinced Qt needs TO BE SAVED from Nokia before it is too late. Turns out Microsoft handed Nokia 250 mil to go for windows mobile and shaft Qt, Nokia bought Trolltech for 150 mil, so technically MS paid Nokia a good 100 mil to drive Qt into the ground.

Remember how MS became big? By pushing its platform limited dev tools forcing people to go for windows due to the lack of software for other platforms, Qt as a cross platform SDK is actually a huge threat to MS, since the moment Qt gets wide adoption no one will bother buying the bloated MS windows. If I was MS I would pay someone to spoil Qt, naturally, naturally, Trolltech wouldn’t have sold out to MS because MS would obviously spoil Qt, but both companies working together managed to trick the trolls into selling out believing Nokia will continue Qt, which day by day turns into a pipe dream.

I think this is rather silly. Firstly, whilst I’m sad that it seems Qt won’t have a future on mobile, I don’t see how Qt is worse off than before Nokia bought Trolltech?

If before it was available on some platforms (but not Symbian) and after it won’t be on Symbian, what exactly is the net effect? And what about the investment that has been made into Qt’s development during Nokia’s ownership? If they wanted to kill it, you’d buy them out, and kill it. This on the other hand would be the most ineffectual attempt to kill something ever.

The reason why MS entered into the deal with Nokia probably has something to do with the point about getting WP7 onto (they presumably hope) tens of millions on Nokia phones. That’s what they care about. The idea that they give a damn about Qt and that was the reason behind it is absurd!

You just don’t get it, don’t you? Not everyone of us are interested im Qt on desktop. Eg. I am not. I learned Qt only because Qt was going to be the maiin UI and application framework on both Symbian and Maemo/MeeGo. Before Qt was ported to Symbian I was never interested to learn Qt. Mobile Qt was THE BIG OPORTUNITY for the Qt, but now Elop hasdestroyed everything and flushed all work done down from tiuked .

If you really think that Qt is not in weaker position now when Elop has killed mobile Qt then you ,ust be blind. Qt hsd never really been mainstream on desktop. About 00% of Wimdows apps are made using Windows native APIs, and it’s the same with MacOS X.

Mobile Qt was that big oportunity, both on smartphones, tablets eg, but thanks to Elop everything is gone now..

Mika Hanhijärvi: I think you missed where I said “I’m sad that it seems Qt won’t have a future on mobile”

I was addressing the ludicrous notion that MS entering into the WP7 deal with Nokia was all done simply to kill off Qt.

There’s nothing I don’t get here. Nowhere have I claimed people are only interested in Qt Desktop. Your entire post is a straw man.

“If you really think that Qt is not in weaker position now when Elop has killed mobile Qt”

Where did I say this? The point made by Dian was comparing Qt to before Nokia bought Trolltech.

As for desktop, I think you’ll find Qt is used a bit more than that. But I’m not sure how Qt would have become standard on mobiles or tablets (especially the latter, where Symbian has no presence) – by your own argument, most people use the native APIs, so that would have been true for other platforms like Android anyway. But if there is a place for Qt on Android, then surely that’s still true?

I’m also not sure what you mean by the end of “Mobile Qt”. The mobile APIs aren’t being dropped (at least according to comments on this blog).

Mark – you don’t seem to know the first thing about abusing and sustaining your monopoly to milk for profit. The sole reason people settled for the bloated and crappy Windows was the lack of software for other platforms, the reason for which is simple – THERE WERE NO DECENT CROSS PLATFORM SDK FRAMEWORKS. If all the professional software available today was also available for Linux my bet is M$ won’t be even close to the size they are today. Over the years Qt grew into a huge threat to M$’s platform monopoly. If you can’t see that you lack basic logic and common sense. And surely, we can blindly believe that it is some random coincidence that M$ paid Nokia almost double of what Nokia paid for Qt, that the shifting of focus away from the high performance C++ framework in favour of lower performing, pointless eye candy is also a coincidence, but I do see a pattern here. It is an undeniable fact Nokia’s deal with M$ cripples the future of Qt, and not surprisingly turns out that Nokia will favour .NET and Silverlight for its phones. Nokia took Qt into a mobile direction with QML and yet the mobile future of Qt at Nokia is dark and infested with M$ development tools.

I wish I had 150 million $ to buy Trolltech myself, and if I did that I bet my balls today Qt would be even faster, richer and fully supported on every major platform out there. That is what Qt deserves, not being an underdog, driven into the ground by Nokia, pressured by M$. Sadly I don’t have 150 million $, all I have is the hope of one day being able to assemble a good team to forge a fast cross platform framework that will never sell out and will always stay independent for the whole world to enjoy.

I have been reading this cross platform QT discussion on Nokia related sites as an enterprise application developer. It seems to me that you QT-developers fail to see what are ecosystems and how their drive IT industry. I think you should be following some measures in a developer ecosystems and not just talk about idealistic cross platform SDKs… Only in an ideal world you would have a cross platform tools… In real world, money drives the development efforts and development platforms differentiate in order to give living for growing number of developers. And yes, there are a growing number of people in world that want their living for developing software. And all developers desire that their software would be the one that all the others use. But by the end, only the ecosystem that is capable of giving living for the biggest number of developers wins and wins again only if it can keep its level of innovativeness well enough compared to other ecosystems.

You Nokia QT developers should stop complaining the choices the other people have made for the direction of the software you have developed. Nokia’s ecosystem was shrinking since the launch of the first iPhone. You had years enough to show Nokia shareholders that you could turn the shrinking trend in Nokia. But you failed. And some of your developers fail to see even now that you have lost the trust of markets. You keep nagging and blaiming Elop. But your ecosystem could not sell anymore products enough to give living for all the people in Nokia ecosystem. Period. And the owners of Nokia wanted change. They hired Elop in order to turn the trend Nokia. Elop was capable and brave enough to calculate the measures of ecosystems right for the Nokia and made a strategy change when it was not too late. He chose the ecosystem where Nokia could survive in the long run. If you would do some studies of measures below you would see that Meego/QT did not have change to compete with MS, Apple or Google ecosystem:
-Total number of professional developers (get paid for their work)
-Skill level of professional of developers (capable of developing quality software, using efficient tools with good team devel skills etc.)
-Quality of tools for the developers (IDEs, quality of code libraries (enterprise application, db connectors, different UI components, video, imaging, security,voice handling, wireless networking etc…; I guess Nokia was the best only in the last one)).
-Quality of documentation of the tools
As a former developer of windows ecosystem I was following maturing of Meego&QT tools a couple of years and whether it would be worth to step in to Nokia’s software ecosystem. I was ready enough to step in when buying N900. The cross platform idea had a Nokia’s promise. But it could not keep that during the years iPhone and Android got big market gains…. By the time, I followed the discussion in your forums and it came clear to me that you tools were not mature enough in order to compete with MS ecosystem where I had been developing the software in the past. It seemed to me that Nokia did not master well enough even the packaging of the software. And the same goes on even in this post. It is not stated clear for the developers for what environment is this SDK package for. You need to ask and wait for reply. Sorry, but the documentation of your software is not yet on world class level. As such, you won’t get many new developers into your ecosystem. Their learning curve is too long to get paid. To me, it was a rational choice for Elop to choose one of the other options (Android or Windows phone) in order for Nokia to stay in mobile business in the long run. But as said, you as QT developers still have a change if you overdue the others in level of innovativeness on the long run. You make enough incremental or a couple of radical innovations. Only then you have a change to become a de facto standard in the industry with your QT stuff. But, for you own sake stop nagging and start innovating! You need more than an idea of a cross platform tool. You need better and easier to use tools than the guys in the other ecosystems. You don’t necessarily need 150 million to buy Trolltech. Just try to be innovative. I guess you still have even some money to develop QT better. Even Elop that you scorch have given QT a chance. He killed expensive Meego but not QT. As a man with software experience he sees better than O-P Kallasvuo. First you need better tools and then you have a change to compete with other ecosystems. Is it not possible for you to see that maybe he is not a troijan horse for the Nokia as you claim?

Is the in-app purchasing support available in Qt SDK’s Linux-version? Or is it only in the Windows version? I can’t find any documentation about it in the Qt SDK’s Linux version.Ofcourse it is possible I have just missed that documentationsomehow .

By the way, could someone please tell if there will be Qt and QML version of Nokia Places API? I would REALLY like to see new Symbian version of QtMobility with Nokia Places API.